New Year’s Wedding at the Loews Hotel by Melissa Kelly Photography

Katie and Phil shared their first kiss on New Year’s Eve merely 4 years ago, and this past New Year’s they shared the ultimate first kiss as newlyweds! This couple is madly in love with each other, the culture of Philly, and especially the Annual Mummers Parade here in Philadelphia. Thanks to Melissa Kelly who did an amazing job catching every precious moment on camera, and these photos are the best representation of this joyous day. We all like to think of New Year’s as a new beginning, and Katie and Phil brought in the New Year right by opening a new chapter in life together!

From the Bride: “Phil and I grew up in the same town but attended different schools growing up; however we had some mutual friends so we knew of each other. In 2011, Phil and my brother, Bill grew very close and started hanging out quite a bit. A New Year’s Eve party was arranged to ring in 2012 and we, along with 20 of our friends, headed to Atlantic City. Phil and I [were both determined to have that perfect “New Years Kiss”] and the rest is truly history. This played a large role in why we chose New Years Day to get married, along [with] our love of Philly and the Mummers Parade…there isn’t any other day in Philly, quite like New Year’s Day!”

“Our engagement story was my idea of perfection, however Phil had much more stress to deal with. He had planned to [propose] on the 4th of July, down at my family’s beach house on Sea Isle City, in 2014. A hurricane hit which cancelled the fireworks on the 4th, however I had tickets to go to [the] Jay Z and Beyonce concert on the 5th (the day the fireworks were rescheduled) with some of my friends. I have never missed a firework show in Sea Isle [in] all of my life and the guilt of leaving, along with my sisters birthday (which is July 5th), had me make a last minute decision to sell my ticket and stay down the shore. Phil and I were on the beach watching the fireworks, with my family strategically placed, and shortly into the fireworks show, he [proposed]. Not only was my entire extended family watching, he had his mom, dad, and sister [watch] from the boardwalk and coming to surprise us [with] LOTS of champagne [at] our beach backyard. It was by far the best day of my life!”

“Our best moment of the day was by far walking [up to] Broad Street. The roads were packed so we jumped out of our shuttle 2 blocks down and ran down Walnut street. I didn’t even care that I was in my wedding heels and having my dress and veil draped around my arms, in an attempt to keep it white. Everyone was wishing their congratulations however once we go to broad street, the cops let us go right in the middle of the road, [then] the crowd erupted!! Thousands of people were yelling, cheering, and celebrating this amazing day with us, and the Mummers! It was the most awesome feeling. Not only did we feel the love of our family and friends that day, we felt the love of the entire city.”

“Wedding planning was pretty typical. Weeks of stress then nothing to do at all. I have to say, Phil was a huge help in the planning process, particularly with returning emails and keeping us on budget . Many of the vendors I used [were] either word of mouth or [ones that I saw listed on] “the knot” website. I tried to limit the amount of people I met with because that’s when things can start getting a little crazy. We had a longer engagement so I felt like we had the time to do things slowly and not ever feel overly bogged down by to-do lists (although we had plenty of those!).”

Advice from the Bride: “As for advice, I’d say…do your best to keep calm and try to enjoy the process. It’s a lot to take on but the day goes by so quick that the planning needs to be fun too. Phil and I would make [“Date Nights” to go over] different tasks we needed to finish, which adds some enjoyment to the parts that get stressful. Also, remember…this is one day of your entire life. Don’t take things too seriously and trust that everything will get done :)”